It is a well known fact (at least among those interested in copyright, those obsessed with trivia, and those who wonder why restaurants make up their own birthday songs) that “Happy Birthday to You” is under copyright until 2030 in the United States (and 2016 in the EU).
But there is a significant dispute over whether this copyright is valid. Jennifer Nelson, a filmmaker working on a documentary about the song, has filed a lawsuit seeking to have the song declared to be in the public domain.
The rich history of the song’s evolution and the conclusion that it might be in the public domain closely tracks the findings of Robert Brauneis, a professor at the George Washington University Law School and the author of a 68-page article titled “Copyright and the World’s Most Popular Song.”
In the study, Professor Brauneis said that “it is doubtful that ‘Happy Birthday to You,’ the famous offspring of ‘Good Morning to All,’ is really still under copyright.
This entry was posted on Friday, June 14th, 2013 at 9:34 am and is filed under Clippings, Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.